Google Promoting Link to Product Search in SERP Navigation

On the heels of last weeks discovery that Google released an ecommerce gadget (and my “speculation” that there may be an introduction of the gadget into Universal Search), there is evidence that they are pushing “Google Product Search” in the SERPs sub-navigation now too. This may have slipped by our radar or it may be new (we know Google has been doing this for its other products like Image, News, etc. for a while now), but we couldn’t find specific mention in the blogosphere of Google Product Search in the sub-navigation bar. See image below:

Ever since Froogle got the boot from the Google homepage, there has been a need for exposure for the service. As Google Checkout picks up steam, the natural place to promote merchants offering Checkout is Product Search. This may be the way Google is trying to get more traffic through to the price comparison engine.

The Google Checkout stamp is everywhere in Product Search now. See below:

You can see the universal filter by Checkout merchants (Marissa Meyer stated it was a feature demanded by Checkout users), the Google Checkout badge on product listings, and of course on the cash cow – AdWords listings. (*Hat Tip to Linda Bustos for finding this)

So, does anyone else think the merchants offering Google Checkout get a huge advantage? Is this good for consumers? Is it good for merchants (regardless if they offer Checkout, PayPal, or neither)? Or, is the tactic slightly… “Microsoft’ish”?

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